1. Field of Invention
A surgical anchor device for the repair of a torn ligament or tendon, primarily the anterior cruciate ligament in the knee, is used to affix the ligament within a femoral bone tunnel in the distal portion of the femur from the intra-articular surface, the device providing a pulley for a suture, wherein a free end of the suture may be pulled away from the device to draw the suture attached to the ligament graft within the femoral bone tunnel securing the ligament graft within the bone tunnel. Installation of the device is provided by insertion of the device through a tibial hole, through the femoral tunnel out of the lateral femoral cortex, pulling the attached sutures simultaneously to flatten the device against the lateral femoral cortex, attaching one end of the suture to the ligament graft and pulling the other end of the suture until the graft is situated properly within the femoral bone tunnel and tying the free end of the suture to retain the graft within the femoral bone tunnel.
2. Description of Prior Art
The following United States patents were discovered and are disclosed within this application for utility patent. All relate to orthopedic surgical anchor devices.
A first category of prior art includes devices known and referenced as endo-buttons. These are devices which are attached to sutures to retain a portion of the suture on the outside of a hole in the bone to prevent withdrawal of the suture back into the hole in the bone. Such devices may be found in advertisements by TENOFIX® and ACUFEX®. Endo-button style devices may also be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,769,894 to Ferragamo and 6,099,568 to Simonian.
A device for the femoral fixation of tendons in ACL repair is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,440,134 to Zaccherotti. This device provides an elongated body having a first end defining a passage for retaining the tendons to the body, a set bar pivotally supported within the second end about a transverse axis with the set bar having two extending stop arms. The tendon is attached through the passage and the body is inserted through the tunnels in the tibia and femur second end first with the set bar in the same direction as the body of the device until the second end extends through the outer surface of the femur. The set bar is then rotated perpendicular to the body with the set arms extended, retaining the body and connected tendon within the femoral tunnel with a fixed tension upon the tendon and ligament.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,086,591 to Bojarski, a soft tissue anchor is disclosed having a body, a first end defining a passage for attaching soft tissue to the anchor and a second end defining a hook having a sharp rounded tip, the anchor being inserted into a first tunnel through the tibia extending into the femur to a reduced diameter tunnel in the femur which is the same length as the body and second end of the anchor. The soft tissue attaches to the first end of the anchor and is pushed through the tunnel until the hook is extended through the outer surface of the femur, the hook engaging the outer surface of the femur to retain the anchor and tendon within the bone tunnel.